Thinking about buying a cougar

I have a friend that has a 92 cougar for sale.The car seems to be in very good shape.He is only asking $200 for it cause it has a bad tanny.And i had a few questions.On average,how much would a tranny cost?How dependable is a cougar?How hard would it be to install the tranny myself?Any advice you guys could give me would be great.

I'm finding a few rebuilt transes on car-part.com for $750. Installation would probably run another $500. Installing it yourself would be pretty hard. 3.8L Cougars are decently reliable, the main issue is they like to blow head gaskets.

My friend has decided to just give me the car.How kick azz is that.Anyways,i guess it wont go into 4th gear but runs well in 3rd.Unfortunately it is about 525 miles to drive and i am a bit nervous about it.As far a the price for the tranny,I found a few at this place called "U WRENCH IT" for between $50 and $150.Its a junk yard where you pull you own parts.(hints the name"u wrench it")Thanks for the info and taking your time to reply.

I got an 83 cougar with a 3.8 engine in it (its carbureated not fuel injected) but that engine kicks ass!!! not quite as good as the 5.0 coug but the engines are very reliable...

Any advice on how i could get the cougar to make the trip?(525 miles)I have a tranny for it.But i need to get the car to a place where i can have it fixed.

i was qouted at 800 for a O/D auto for my 94 w/ the 4.6, if u can get it for cheaper go for it, a cougar is a great car to own and very realible, i dk if i would trust driving it w/out 4th down the freeway. but if ur doing mostly city driving dont worry bout it